Brad Binder Has Broken Arm Replated In Barcelona

Submitted by David Emmett on Thu, 2017-04-13 20:10

Brad Binder has had surgery to fit a new plate to his broken left arm. The original plate, which had been fitted over the winter after he had broken the radius in his left arm, had worked loose, and was not holding the bone together properly. Binder has now had that issue corrected in Barcelona.

The South African had broken his arm in a big crash at Valencia in November, and had undergone surgery to fix the bones in place. This surgery had not taken properly, however, the bone not knitting together properly. Binder had ridden despite the pain, but in Argentina, the pain had become much worse. An examination of the arm showed that the plate had become partially detached, and the bone had broken again. Despite the pain, Binder rode to a tenth place finish in Argentina, a remarkable result all things considered.

On Thursday, Binder had surgery at the Dexeus Hospital in Barcelona. There, Dr Mir removed the old plate, inserted a bone graft to help reattach the bone, and inserted a new plate, allowing Binder to rotate his arm correctly.

Binder now faces a three-week period of rest, before he can start to exercise again. He is certain to miss the US round of Moto2 at Austin next weekend, and is unlikely to be fit in time for Jerez. The most likely time frame for the reigning Moto3 champion is that he will make his return at Le Mans. Who will replace Binder is as yet unknown, but given KTM have Mika Kallio on the books as a test rider, he is the obvious choice.

The press release from the Red Bull KTM Ajo team appears below:

Brad Binder undergoes successful operation on left arm

Red Bull KTM Ajo Moto2 rider undergoes surgery at Hospital Universitario Dexeus in Barcelona, to reposition the plate in his left forearm. Binder had suffered the original injury in November of 2016.

04/13/2017 - Barcelona, Spain

Brad Binder underwent a successful operation on his left arm this Thursday afternoon at the Hospital Universitario Dexeus (Barcelona), required after the South African had experienced discomfort in the radial fracture he had been treated for before the start of the season. The discomfort felt at the Argentinian GP led to him being examined at the circuit medical centre, where it was confirmed that the bone continued to be broken and that the plate applied to the injury had moved. The procedure on Thursday, lasting 120 minutes, was undertaken by Dr. Xavier Mir and his team.

The original injury had occured in a crash by the Red Bull KTM Ajo rider in preason testing in Valencia in November of 2016. Binder was operated on by Dr. Mir that same week in Barcelona, followed by a further operation in South Africa at the start of this year.

Dr. Mir, Head of Surgery and Microsurgery of the Upper Extremities at the Hospital Universitario Dexeus; Head of Traumotology for MotoGP.

"Today we operated on Brad Binder, who had suffered a loosening of the plate on his left forearm. The operation consisted of three phases: The first, removing the old plate, which had lost the pronator axis. Secondly, we placed a new plate with the correct axis of the radius, so that it could do twisting movements; Finally, a graft removed from his arm to wrap around the old fracture and ensure that the bone heals as soon as possible. He will remain in hospital for between 24 and 48 hours and we believe that he will be able to begin recovery exercises in three weeks."

The Red Bull KTM Ajo will be unable to participate in the Grand Prix of the Americas, and the evolution of the injury will decide his return date. Despite the problems experienced in the race last Sunday, Binder was able to place in the Top 10 at Termas de Rio Hondo, demonstrating his great progress onboard the KTM Moto2 bike.